Sone Aluko will be investigated by the Scottish Football Association's
compliance officer, Vincent Lunny, for his part in the penalty kick awarded
to Rangers in the champions' 2-1 victory over Dunfermline on Saturday, The
Telegraph understands.

Instant impact: Sone Aluko has been catching the headlines already with new club RangersPhoto: REUTERS

Aluko, in his second SPL appearance for Rangers since he signed two weeks, went to ground in a challenge by Martin Hardie that prompted the referee, Steve Conroy, to grant the award from which Nikica Jelavic scored what proved to be the winning goal.

Jim McIntyre, the Dunfermline manager, was seething about the incident and said: "It's never a penalty in a month of Sundays. The referee's in a great position.

"It's just not a penalty. There's no contact at all. There are three players round him and it's a dive."

The SFA's recently introduced fast-track disciplinary procedure means that Aluko could be suspended for Rangers' meeting with Hibs next Saturday.

The home support at Easter Road will welcome Pat Fenlon as manager for the first time since he was appointed 10 days ago. Fenlon might have made a winning debut at Fir Park on Friday night but a promising start – Hibs were 1-0 up at half-time thanks to a Garry O'Connor goal – came to nothing when the match was abandoned because of a fire at the base of a floodlight pylon.

Saturday's win over Dunfermline would have been emphatic if Rangers had converted anything like the number of chances they generated but, like Celtic two weeks ago against the Fifers, Ally McCoist's players racked up two early goals then not only failed to capitalise on their advantage but spent most of the afternoon in nervy mood after Joe Cardle scored with his team's first decent opportunity.

From the enjoyment of large margins – Rangers were 12 points clear of Celtic in mid-November – they are now grateful for modest mercies, such as the avoidance of a fourth draw at home this season and a win to put an end to the sequence that saw them drop five points out of six in their two prior fixtures.

There was the additional bonus of a debut for Thomas Bendiksen, the young Norwegian midfielder who has been on the club's books since 2007 but whose progress had been hindered by serious injury. Bendiksen showed enough to suggest that it would be sensible for Rangers to offer him an extended contract, which McCoist duly said would be on his action list.

Another improvement on recent weeks was Rangers' greater width, supplied by Aluko and Gregg Wylde, who returned from a suspension incurred on Nov 5 when he kicked Dundee United's Willo Flood off the ball and was sent off, to McCoist's anger.

"Yes, the manager had some things to say to me about that," said Wylde. "It was something I shouldn't have done and I have learned from it.

"It's no good to me or the team if I'm sitting in the stand so it was obviously good to be back and play for the full 90 minutes again. The big thing for us was to make sure we got the three points after the last couple of results.

"Dunfermline made it awkward when they were at Celtic Park and only lost 2-1 after they had been 2-0 down. To be honest, we're not really worried about what other people are doing – we just need to get on with our job.

"It's going to be a hard game on Saturday because Hibs are always a tough team to play against. They've got a new manager and they'll want to impress him but, as I say, we can only be concerned about what we do and the rest will take care of itself."

Dunfermline, meanwhile, have been leapfrogged by Caley Thistle in the SPL table after the Inverness club came off the bottom with their victory over St Mirren in Paisley, and are now one point ahead of Aberdeen and behind Hibs on goal difference.

The East End Park side have endured the sort of luck that is the usual lot for sides in their position, as exemplified not only by Keddie's own goal – his second in successive weeks – but also by the free header he guided over the crossbar from a Dunfermline corner kick in the dying moments.

McIntyre was only slightly less annoyed about that miss than he was about the Aluko penalty and Keddie explained that he had perhaps deprived himself of a dramatic finale by overdoing the technique.

''I tried to head it too hard. I should have let it hit me and controlled the header rather than put the power through it," said then central defender. "That's us been to Ibrox and Parkhead now and we have given a good account of ourselves on the two occasions.

"We lost twice but if you take the positives from the way we passed the ball and pressed, I think we could maybe kick on and pick up some points.

"Joe Cardle gives us penetration going forward and he took his goal very well; it was a good ball from Martin Hardie. We have got this in our locker, we just need to produce it a bit more often and make sure that we are not shipping goals at the back.

"Rangers like to play football. The better teams like to pass, pass, pass. It is not a constant barrage where they are just pumping balls in. We contained them very well but unfortunately didn't get the result that we wanted."